21 Mar 2010

Barker and boys need two more wins

8:29 am on 21 March 2010

Team New Zealand go into the final day of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland needing two more victories to win the regatta.

Skipper Dean Barker and his crew are one-nil up in the best-of-five finals after a 12-second victory over Italians Mascalzone Latino in the first race.

Team New Zealand won through to the finals after a clinical win in the decisive semi-final earlier today over another Italian syndicate, Azzurra.

In a marked contrast to Friday night's thriller, when the hosts had to execute a penalty turn right on the line to just pip Azzurra by two seconds and square the best-of-three semi-finals, Dean Barker and his crew eased to a 27-second victory in their best race of the semis.

Azzurra beat Artemis in the last race on Saturday to take third place ahead of the Swedes, who finish fourth.